House of Helga Hufflepuff
by Miss Narrator Acoolie -Kiari
Summary: We know about Gryffindor. We even know about Slytherin. But what's going on in Hufflepuff during Harry Potter's time at school? This is the story of eight Hufflepuff students in Harry's year.
1. Sorting Hat

**Category:** Harry Potter

**Rating:** PG-13, R as marked. M just to be safe.

Welcome to the first chapter of my newest fanfic. I'm really excited about this one. JK tells us about Gryffindors all the time, of course. We also know a lot about those pesky Slytherins. But as for how Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are coping with this war, she doesn't say a thing.

So what is going on in the minds and lives of Hufflepuffs? After all, this house (my personal favorite) is a little more open and vague as to who it lets in than the other three. There are so many more differences and fluctuations in personality. So what's going on in the members of this house?

This fanfiction delves into the lives of eight specific Hufflepuffs and their friends, enemies, and families. Their entire lives. Their thoughts, their feelings. Welcome to the lives of four boys and four girls in the same year as the famous Harry Potter. Task Allabee, Travis Arthur "Tadd" Dashell-Days, Levi Delahunnt, Julian "Ian" Leahway, Payton Mars, Alexa Miles, Matty Taylor, and Fynn White.

**Disclaimer: **Although Task, Tadd, Ian, Payton, Alexa, Matty, and Fynn all belong to me, Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling's characters belong to her, and Levi Delahunnt belongs to a close friend of mine, used with her permission and written with her aid.

* * *

"_Everyone asks me,_

'_Who the hell is she?'_

_That weirdo with five colors in her hair."_

_-McFly_

"Task Allabee!" One of the first names was called out by Professor McGonagal, summoning an odd girl up to the sorting hat. What made her odd had nothing to do with people even knowing her. What made everyone stare at the girl trotting awkwardly up to be sorted into her Hogwarts house was a head of bright, canary blue hair. Not brown, blonde, red, or even black. Bright, fluorescent blue. It stuck out like a sore thumb. The sorting hat didn't even have to touch that head of blue hair before shouting out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"_Haven't you heard that I'm the new cancer?_

_Never looked better and you can't stand it."_

_-Panic! At the Disco_

"Travis Dashell-Days!" Only those close to the boy could hear him mumbling under his breath. "_It's Tadd. Tadd Days." _It didn't matter yet anyway. A few kids had already heard and passed the word on about "Australia," a nickname he was likely to go by for at least his entire first year. The boy's arms were crossed sulkily across his chest, and he looked almost as if he didn't exactly want to go up and be sorted into his house. In fact, he almost looked as if what he'd rather do right now was run as far and as fast as he could out of there. Still, his feet moved him up there. The hat took longer than anyone had expected, but finally, to the puzzlement of a few, exclaimed, "HUFFLEPUFF."

"_I got to get you baby_

_To lose yourself with me."_

_- Family Force Five_

"Levi Delahunnt!" The boy sprang forward, his tiny body practically quivvering all over from excitement. After a few false starts, he actually realized that was his name being called, and bounded forward, only to trip over his own robe and fall flat on his face. Instead of feeling utterly embassed, however, the boy did naught but spring into life again, practically hurling himself onto the stool. He looked completely happy to be there, and utterly relaxed. The sorting hat took nothing more than a few heartbeats before screaming out," HUFFLEPUFF."

"_This is the blood that we're made of_

_So tell it like a chronicle."_

_-Mates of State_

"Julian Leahway!" Silence. "Julian Leahway!" Giggles from the crowd. It seemed that without McGonagal's knowledge the boy had somehow already gotten up to the stool and was carefully placing the hat on his head as he'd seen others do before him. The professor raised an eyebrow at the small boy. By small, meaning that he was of a tiny frame and a bit littler than most of his year-mates. "It's Ian, by the way, ma'am," he said in an odd and unplaceable accent, sticking his tongue out in disgust for his given name. He then grinned wildly, swinging his legs and waiting for the Hat's decision, after which it yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"_Pinch me is this real?  
I'm on a one way ticket out of Loserville."_

_-Son of Dork_

"Payton Mars!" A girl with her hair up in curly pigtails literally waddled up to the stool to be sorted. She got a few odd looks at the book under her arm; not a wizarding book, not a learning book, but a Muggle paperback copy of 'Alice in Wonderland.' She looked as if her robes were two sizes too big, as were her wide and deer-like eyes. The little girl hopped up onto the stool, and she blushed a deep crimson color as the hat screamed, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"_When I turn jet black, you can show off your light._

_I live to let you shine."_

_-Gregory and the Hawk_

"Alexa Miles!" She'd smiled reassuringly at all the people who had gone before he to the sorting hat, but now that it was her turn she looked equally nervous as all the others, if not moreso. She had the common look of fear concerning her house, shared with all the other people who were busy thinking 'What does this say about me?' and 'Will I be able to make friends there?' She breathed a sigh of relief, however, when the hat told her, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"_I can feel unsexy for someone so beautiful_

_So unloved for someone so fine."_

_-Alanis Morissette_

"Matty Taylor!" A girl with glasses that might have enveloped her face and hair cut short like a boys' made her way up to the place where the sorting hat was. She was halfway glad that everyone was paying to much attention to Harry Potter, whose name they'd just called recently, to care about the youngest Taylor at their school. Her two older brothers were already in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, so it was a coin flip as to which she thought she'd end up in. As she was thinking about all this, a leg shot out. She turned and rounded on a group of boys before McGonagal shouted and she hurried up to the stool, shooting them daggers. Anyone who was paying attention was a bit shocked to hear, "HUFFLEPUFF."

"_You're trying to fight gravity in a society that insists_

_That love is like falling and falling is like this."_

_-Ani Difranco_

"Fynn White!" He'd waited patiently as he could for his turn. Really! It was natural for the boy to be shuffling back and forth on his feet. Nerves and all that, you see? He was just a little anxious. Okay, not a little anxious. A lot anxious. But wasn't a boy allowed to want to know where he was going to be placed? Yes, a boy did! So it wasn't a surprise that he practically took a flying bound to the stool where the sorting hat sat after his name was called. He sat nice and still for it while it made a decision, too. Well, except for his leg that started to nervously tap. There was finally obvious relief on his face as the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"


	2. First Dinner

**Chapter Rating: **PG-13

**Summary: **The first dinner in the Great Hall. Just sort of establishing people's characters and meeting them up.

**Disclaimer: **Some stuff's mine. Other stuff's other peoples'. You can guess which is which.

* * *

"_I don't want to destroy your tank-top_

_Let's be friends, let's just walk away,"_

_-Weezer_

"WOOOOOSSSSSH, PEW-PEW, BADDA BADDA BADDA BAM!"

The smallest boy at the Hufflepuff dropped one fork and raised his hand to push black bangs out of his eyes when he realized one very important detail. About five people, at least from his quick count, were staring straight at him. Come on! Was it really that odd to be reenacting a galactic battle with your food at your first dinner at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Well, judging from the stares he was getting, it was.

Not a bit faltered by their strange looks, Ian Leahway grinned at them rather than anything else. "Well, you see, there's a war on. The evil chicken lord is fighting off the spoon prince for control of the mashed potato mountain and-"

Most of the people around him were still staring, but one took the opportunity to interrupt him. A boy with slightly curly dark brown hair, slim and a bit tall on average compared to the other first years raised his fork at Ian. "Not if the fork rebels can help it," Levi Delahunnt told him in a voice that spoke as if he did this sort of thing all the time.

A few minutes later the two were already sparring Star Wars lightsaber-style with their forks, and by this time people had given up on attempting to clue the two boys in that they were, in fact, extremely weird. They also weren't about to admit that they found the whole thing amusing.

A girl with pale blonde hair cascading down her back rolled her startling crystal blue eyes at the two boys, obviously 'beyond their childish immaturity.' "You two can't say you're not even concerned with this juicy news. I mean, everyone's talking about _Harry Potter _going to school with us! In our year and everything, come on!"

Levi looked annoyed as Ian's attention was quickly drawn away from him and to the girl. He blinked his dark eyes – one couldn't quite tell if they were blue or brown – at her, shrugging. "Who's this Potter kid, anyway?"

Almost everyone within earshot turned to stare at him, save the blonde girl herself, Alexa, who was already looking at him, and whose eyes simply widened, and two others. Levi's clear, gray eyes simple conveyed boredom with the subject, and another average-sized boy with particularly average looks simply picked around and stared down at his plate.

The Task girl from earlier, the one with the bright blue hair, waved a hand in the air, her matching blue eyes widening, but in a different manner than Alexa's. She looked extremely excited about something. "I know! I know who that is! He's the one who defeated Ol' Whassissname, right?"

The group officially had the attention of one other boy, a girl with curly pigtails, and another one with an almost annoyed expression and her head in the other's book. Add that to the original Ian, Levi, Alexa, and Task, and that made seven people, plus three older students who recognized Ian as an obvious Muggle-born and simply shook their heads, smiling.

As Alexa let out an exasperated sigh, the girl with the book handed it back to Payton (pigtails), keeping that same original scowl as she explained. Her way of talking to Ian was like she was talking to a two-year-old, and it was obviously working better than anyone else's. "Lemmee guess," she looked at Task, "blue hair here's either got Muggles for parents and she's been reading up on magic, or she's just got one wizarding parent and they just let up the info. Am I right?"

As Task shook her head in shock, Matty, the girl explaining, changed expressions from a scowl to a self-satisfied smile. "So. You, kid, you're definitely a Muggle-born yourself. And I know Payton here is, I've already been talking to her."

"Well listen up, kiddies. There's this really bad guy, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," she looked pointedly at Task, who'd messed this up earlier, "He hated anyone who wasn't purebloods. Like blondie here, me, Delahunnt over there, and maybe a couple of our other listeners."

"And yes," Matty looked around Ian at Levi, who now wore a shocked expression on his face like Task had earlier, "I know you're a Delahunnt. I was paying attention during sorting, and besides, I met Tobias once." Tobias was Levi's brother, in Gryffindor. "Anyway, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had a bunch of followers, Death Eaters. And all together they killed a lot of Muggles and Muggle-borns." She looked over her glasses at Ian, to make sure he was getting it. "Those are… normal people, I guess you'd say, from your point of view. Nonmagic, that is. Like your 'rents, I'm sure."

Ian gave a double nod to communicate he understood, and Matty continued. "Anyhow, there was a resistance, too, so he went after them, you see. And Harry Potter, his parents were one of them. He tried to kill the baby, and, you see, he survived, killed Voldemort, dead." She clapped her hands together quickly for effect.

It was then that something caught all their attention. Apparently one more person was in on their little conversation as well. The boy who had moments before been hanging his head, pushing his food around his plate rather than eating it, looked up. His stunningly pale green eyes looked troubled as he spoke up. "There were still Death Eater stragglers… the war was everywhere." He blushed when he realized everyone was looking at him, then looked down again, a scowl now apparent on his face.

Levi, who'd had that same bored look on his face only moments before, now lit up, practically leaping over the table as he shouted, "Hey! Australia _talks_!"

The scowling boy, Tadd, now directed his gaze at Levi. His green eyes, now darker with annoyance, met Levi's mocking gray ones. There seemed to be some sort of exchange there. You've heard of love at first sight? Well this was more like… _loathe_ at first sight.

"It's _Tadd. _Not Australia. Not Travis. Tadd."

Levi leaned back onto the bench. "I prefer Trav_ass,_ personally," he said with a smirk, showing off the foul language he'd already succeeded in learning from his parents and older brother.

Everyone around was almost tense-looking, as if something was going to start right then and there. But the meal ended, and it was time for the Prefects to show them to their dorms.


	3. Moving In

**Chapter Rating: **PG

**Summary: **The boys and girls move into their respective dorms. Friendships begin to form. Blargh.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter stuff. I own most of these characters. My friend, however, owns el LEVI.

* * *

"_Sometimes I don't speak too bright_

_But yet I know what I'm talking about_

_Why can't we be friends?"_

_-War_

It was almost ironic, the boys that had been in on that conversation sharing a dorm. The automatic tension between Tadd and Levi was halfway amusing to note. As they unpacked, the boys kept shooting angry glances at one another. The third boy, with the light brown hair, Fynn, quietly unpacked his own things. Getting done quickly, his next instinct was to turn and see if anyone else needed help. After all, he figured the best policy was to make friends as quickly as possible, especially with the other boys he'd be roommates with. It wasn't a good idea to be constantly fighting with someone you were going to have to deal with every single day.

He was also smart to pick up the hostility radiating from the other two, and decided it would be _much_ easier to try and talk to Ian.

Besides, the smallest of the four boys was sitting in the middle of his bed with a rather frustrated look on his face, and his various possessions strewn about him. Fynn trotted over, picking up what looked like a badly abused animal. "You need help?" he asked, although it looked like he was talking more to the flimsy bundle of cloth than to Ian.

Ian looked up, surprised. "Where am I supposed to put all this-"

Fynn interrupted him, looking over the belongings, "Junk?"

"Not junk!" the boy's look was incredulous. "Important precious things of… er… importance!"

Levi looked up at the two after this, then grinned widely at Ian. "Hey, I got a solution," he announced. Being that none of his things were in sight anymore, he had obviously just finished unpacking. He picked up an armful of stuff from Ian's bed as the black-haired youth watched on, fascinated, and shoved it under the bed. He repeated this until the mattress was no longer covered with what was once the contents of Ian's suitcase.

Fynn stared, openmouthed, looking from one boy to the other, expecting Ian to say something about how counterproductive that was. Instead, a wide grin spread across Ian's face.

The kid leaped off his bed, wrapping his arms around Levi in a big hug, and shouted, "You're a genius!" Then he snatched his dilapidated stuffed bear out of Fynn's hand and flopped back down onto his bed, that same big grim still engulfing his face. Fynn flinched, even though it wasn't him being touched. He wasn't a fan of strangers touching him, and this boy was apparently _very _friendly.

That left no question as to where Levi's things where, and as Fynn turned around, he saw Tadd unceremoniously taking what was left of his unpacking – his clothing – and unceremoniously dumping the bag all over the floor next to his bed. Although the rest of his things were put away neatly, this was the one thing that he refused to deal with.

Fynn flopped onto the bed with a groan. Apparently he was going to be sharing a very _messy _room for his life at Hogwarts.

x-----x

"_Castaways and cutouts, fill it up,_

_Come join the Youth and Beauty Brigade."_

_-The Decemberists_

Payton stared from her spot at the edge of her bed at Matty, crawling underneath her own. The girl pulled herself back out, pushing her glasses up her nose and narrowing her eyes at the pigtailed girl she'd recently befriended. "What're you starin' at?"

The smaller girl played with one stray curl of her light brown hair, swinging her feet back and forth. "I wasn't staring I was just… wondering. What are you doing?"

Matty sighed, flopping down onto the thick pile of blankets on her bed. There was now a similar pile underneath, as well as a few of her favorite books, her diary, and a stock of snacks. She'd learned from her older brother, Max, what to expect from Hogwarts and what she needed to pack.

"I like having a place to get away," she sighed. She already planned on spending most of her time either under her bed or in the library.

"Oh," Payton said simply. There wasn't much else she _could _say.

Alexa's slim, tall frame appeared next to her a few minutes later, sliding without invitation onto her bed. She turned and smiled warmly at Payton, then at Matty. "Well, I think it's nice. Not something I'd prefer, but nice." She felt almost like it should be her job to be friendly to everyone. Maybe it was part of the effect of being in Hufflepuff. Maybe not.

It was then that a sort of twanging noise came from the other side of the room. All three girls turned to see Task with a guitar, of all things, in her lap. She blushed sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Alexa said warmly. "Why don't you play something?"

Task looked a bit uneasy, and turned to Payton and Matty for their approval. Payton nodded with a shy smile, and Matty just stayed on the bed, shrugging.

She picked at the guitar for a few seconds, then started playing a song. The other three were soon singing along to a familiar wizarding tune, until someone finally mentioned that they should be going to bed. The other three agreed, and the girls were soon sleeping.

Payton smiled to herself. At least she was lucky enough to be sharing her room with a few friendly people.


	4. Another Boring Day

**Chapter Rating: **PG

**Summary: **It'll get more exciting later on. The day to day lives of a couple Hufflepuffs is pretty boring business.

**Disclaimer: **Same as always. There's my stuff, there's theirs.

* * *

"_Get up, Get up, Get up off of it._

_Wake up."_

_- Alanis Morissette_

Fynn groaned at the sudden light and noise invading his senses. Another day, the same as always. It had been the same for about two weeks now, only varying on weekends. First an enthusiastic wakeup call for he and Tadd came courtesy of Ian and Levi. Fynn was certain by now that whichever one woke up first made sure to get the other one before they began screaming and yelling and banging on things and tearing open curtains.

Then came Tadd's early morning yelling and throwing various articles of clothing, bedding, books, and even a few recently acquired spells at Levi. He didn't even go for Ian; it was straight for the taller, brunette wizard.

It took Ian's shouts of 'CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?' in a very overly dramatic manner and Fynn getting up and frowning disapprovingly to pull them apart. Then all the boys headed off to breakfast. They all sat together in class, despite the fact that Levi and Tadd were constantly shouting at and aggravating each other. Ian and Fynn, having already taken note of this, usually made a point of sitting between the two. Despite what they _had_ learned, they had _not _realized yet that Levi and Tadd only shouted _over_ them at each other.

Ian normally sat next to Levi, the two getting along well and coming up with all sorts of stupid things to do. Then Ian turned to Fynn for his own opinion, who didn't appreciate the absolute brainlessness of all of their plans. Tadd and Fynn, however, were both comparatively quiet, and could talk to each other in a perfectly normal way. He'd noticed that the constantly frowning boy had a tendency to keep to himself.

There wasn't really that much variation from day to day for the four boys. They all had their other respective friends, but the roommates shared an odd sort of bond. It was a sort of 'You wouldn't expect them to hang out so much, but they did' thing.

It didn't seem there could be much to change their days.

x-----x

"_Let's be outspoken_

_Let's be ridiculous_

_Let's solve the world's problems,"_

_-Alanis Morissette_

The day started routinely as always for the girls. Matty was already gone; she always got up early and sulked off to the library until the day started. Payton followed her every once in a while, but usually had enough books near her bed to occupy her. The first sounds of the morning were, more often than not, Task tripping over her guitar. Following that were repeated, "Sorry, sorry, sorry," and "Oooooh, I didn't mean to wake you guys up, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Alexa then reluctantly crawled out of bed, assuring Task that no one was mad at her and that they needed to wake up anyway. She went to see if Payton was in the room first, waking her up if she was. Then whoever had been in the room that morning went to the library to drag Matty out and convince her that she did, in fact, need to eat breakfast.

All four of them usually sat next to Tadd, Levi, Ian, and Fynn, but were always together. It was like an unspoken agreement between the eight of them, being friends. They just gravitated towards each other, without meaning to, and ended up 'hanging out.'

Days went the same almost all the time. Once or twice Payton would swear she was having de ja vu. If it weren't for the change in lessons from day to day, she might have driven herself crazy with the similarity of it all. For being suddenly emerged in a world of magic, it seemed almost… usual. She was used to it. Like it was something she'd been in her whole life. It wasn't rare that someone else had to explain something magical to her, or Task or Ian, but after a brief explanation it was shuffled in with the rest of the commonplace.

So when would it get interesting again?


	5. Christmastime

**Chapter Rating: **PG-13

**Summary: **Depressing Christmas stories. A snowball fight to cheer people up.

**Disclaimer: **If you can't figure out what's mine and what's their by now... God, you're hopeless.

* * *

"_You don't belong_

_You left the kids to carry on_

_You planned their fall,"_

_-Blink-182_

Fynn was staying with his family for the holidays, but he'd still sent gifts for his three friends back at Hogwarts.

In fact, Tadd had already gone through his gifts and gone downstairs. Levi and Ian were the only two left in the dorm, so when the smaller boy woke up, his black hair a tangled morning mess, he flying leaped onto Levi's nearby bed, and began to jump up and down on it excitedly.

"Levi!" Jump. "Wake!" Jump. "Up!" Jump. "It's!" Jump. "CHRISTMAS!"

As Levi rubbed his sleepy gray eyes and blinked up at Ian, he was satisfied that the very tired-looking boy was at least somewhat awake, and so he raced back over to his own bed and began frantically digging through his gifts.

Levi sat up, glancing over at Tadd's bed. "Where's Trav-ass?" he asked automatically.

Ian looked up for a fraction of a second, his expression one of thought, and then returned to his digging as he answered, "Dunno. He must've left already."

Levi raised an eyebrow, looking at a good-sized package at the end of their sulky young friend's bed. "He missed a present."

"We should give it to him," Ian said absently. His expression was slowly growing less and less cheerful as he progressed through the gifts. It also seemed to be the second time he was going through them, Levi noted, now at his own pile, and the energetic youth hadn't opened a single one.

"What are you looking for?" he inquired, still raising that eyebrow.

Ian ignored his question, still digging through the gifts. By now his eyebrows were knitted together, his face an uncharacteristic frown.

He stopped digging, eyes scanning the pile once more in some sort of desperate hope, then grabbed a box he'd set aside earlier. Still, rather than actually tearing through the wrapper, he ripped off the card, quickly opening and scanning through it.

Ian took a deep breath as his eyes scanned the card. If it was possible at this point, the normally overly cheerful boy's expression was slowly growing gloomier. In fact, he looked almost about to cry. That _definitely _wasn't a normal Ian expression.

"Oh," he said softly, speaking to no one in particular, then folded the card. The Muggle-born boy scratched halfheartedly at the wrapping paper of the gift.

"What were you looking for?" Levi tried again, more softly this time. He now came to sit beside his friend. This was… stupid. What could make a person so depressed on _Christmas Day?_ More importantly, what could make _Ian_, of all people, this depressed? On _any day_, even?

Ian looked up at Levi with a sniff that confirmed it; the boy was, in fact, about to cry.

"I wanted to see if they at least got me anything, I-"

Levi frowned. "Ian, who?"

Ian sniffed again, a few tears now brimming in his eyes. He handed Levi the card.

_Merry Christmas, Ian. Why don't you ever write from Hogwarts? I want to see the owl come. That would be so cool._

_Mom and Dad are still being stupid about this whole thing. I asked them if they were going to send you anything, but they just looked at me like I was running a fever. I've been trying to get them to even send you a letter, or trick them into slipping up and talking about you but..._

_Aunt Lindsay came the other day. She asked about you. They wouldn't tell her anything, they just glared at her the whole time. She went insane on them, about 'not accepting their son' and stuff like that. Told me I should get you to write her._

_Well, I went and got you something, anyway. I think you'll like it. I saw it and thought, 'Yup, that's my brother.' Aunt Lindsay agrees. _

_I'm missing you. It feels like when you went traveling for a long time. There's nothing fun to do around here. I know you can't come back for the holidays though. I don't blame you. I'll see you again in the summer, I know._

_Your favorite lil sis,_

_Karen_

Levi's eyebrows knitted together like Ian's had. He turned to his friend, a touch of anger and annoyance on his face. Not at Ian, no, who was crying full by now, sniffling and wiping the tears from his face.

"So your parents don't talk about you?"

"They're really religious," Ian sniffed, feeling like he was making up excuses, "and they're Muggles. They don't just not talk about me they… they're embarrassed, so they don't talk _to _me either or… well, much of anything."

Levi had heard story upon story of Ian's Aunt Lindsay, as had everyone else the boy talked to. Lindsay was a headstrong woman, as well as a world traveler. She studied relationships between people, or something like that, and she was a writer, too. When Ian was little, she'd started taking him. Yes, Ian talked about her all of the time. But what he never talked about was his actual parents. Now Levi knew why.

"So instead, they just pretend you don't exist. That's not right, Ian. Why didn't you tell us…?"

"It's not important," he answered, looking quickly away.

It was hard to believe that about Ian. Not only was it hard to believe that it was even _possible_ to ignore the boy – he was like a big fuzzy ball of pure energy – but why would anyone _want _to, least of all his own parents? It was unbelievable. And it just wasn't right. It wasn't right to ignore your own kid just because he was a wizard. It wasn't right to hurt someone like Ian. He was sweet and innocent and a thousand other things that didn't need to be hurt like that.

Everyone knew Tadd had issues. It was obvious from the way he carried himself, the way he lashed out at people, and the reserved way he acted even around his closest friends. Even Levi and a few of the girls had a few problems you could see. But Ian? He was happy. He was fun. He wasn't angry, or sad. He was always smiling and doing silly things.

He covered up well.

Levi practically stomped back over to his pile of gifts, tearing through them. It wasn't with the normal Christmas excitement he would have had. Ian returned to slowly and unenthusiastically peeling through each and every present he had. Later he'd care about them, and be excited. Right now, the boy probably couldn't tell you what was in each box.

The taller boy practically tore Ian's arm off as he dragged the smaller boy out of the room. Ian himself was feeling rather detached from reality at the given moment, and so wasn't that hard to be dragged out. Levi had two gift boxes under his other arm. One was Tadd's. The other belonged to him.

As they went out into the common room, he tossed his own into the fire, and began dragging Ian out the portrait hole.

"What was that?" he asked in a half-interested voice.

"From my brother." Levi already knew it wouldn't be anything worth opening. It would be a book mocking him, or an angry letter.

Ian frowned automatically. It seemed hypocritical, to him at least, that only a few seconds ago Levi had tried to console him for his parents not sending a gift, and the next he was ignoring his brother's. He paled at the thought of what his parents might have done to the gifts he'd sent them. Were they still sitting, unopened, ignored, under the tree? Were they in the fire, like Toby's? Or were they in the trash? Maybe Karen had relabeled them and stuck them under there, just so the gifts could at least _get_ to them. She thought like that, sometimes.

But Levi knew better. It wasn't hypocritical because Ian hadn't done anything to deserve what happened to him. Toby had. Toby was a stupid asshole who held it over his brother's head that he'd gotten into Gryffindor and Levi had been stuck in 'Stupid, woosie Hufflepuff.' There was nothing wrong with Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff was a great place to be. Not to mention Toby had turned out just like his father; one of the biggest whores in the school, that is. When it came to girls, Toby got around. Levi didn't know whether to be jealous or mortified.

He did know one thing, though. He definitely didn't want a gift from his brother.

x-----x

"_I'm going to make a lot of money_

_Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene,"_

_-Joni Mitchell_

Task squealed excitedly, tearing at her Christmas gifts. Matty woke, blinking through the curtains at the sudden morning light. The first sounds of the morning were rips of wrapping paper.

Payton was obviously the type to save paper. The brown-haired, recently awakened girl pulled on her glasses and sat there, watching for awhile. It was funny the contrast between the other two girls. Task, her blue hair still a tangled, sleepy mess, sat in the middle of a whirlwind of shredded red, green, and gold, flecks of other colors showing through, screeching in a high-pitched, excited tone at every gift. Payton, on the other hand, worked slowly, peeling the tape off each corner and folding the paper neatly into a pile. Rather than shrilling out Task's excited squeals, she smiled softly at each gift, as if sharing a special, secret joke with each and every one.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Alexa asked Matty from her bed on the other side. They both smiled, knowing they were talking about the same thing.

Matty had to admit, she and Alexa got along better than she'd first thought they would. She _didn't _want to admit that she'd judged the tall, thin girl at first sight. But everyone got jealous, everyone assumed about the girl who had the long, blonde hair and the sparkling blue eyes. But no, Alexa didn't turn out to be a lying, manipulating prep. She was… nice. Pure, sweet. She thought of everyone else before herself, and Matty liked that. Although she did hate the way Alexa always made _her _feel like the selfish brat.

Even when she picked up Matty's gift out of the rest that she'd just opened, the tomboy felt bad. She didn't plan on opening her own presents until she was certain she was awake, but she easily recognized the simple brown paper. The Taylors weren't what you'd call the best off of families. They couldn't afford much, so Matty's gifts to her friends were all simple, secondhand or homemade for the most part. Even what she'd gotten had taken forever to save up for.

She looked over to see that Task and Payton had already finished opening their presents. Task looked up, like she was going to say something to Matty. Matty, on the other hand, abruptly stood and looked around the room. "I'm going to breakfast," she announced, trotting out almost too quickly. The girl actually _had _considered the fact that she was still in her pajamas, but they were her best pajamas, so she didn't think much else of it. Alexa looked like she was about to say something about her presents, but Matty was already out the door. She closed her mouth, puzzled look on her face.

"What's wrong with Matty?" Task voiced her thoughts, staring after her friend.

Payton, quiet as always, spoke softly, "I think she's embarrassed."

"About what?" Alexa knitted her eyebrows together, looking down at the gift in her hands.

Payton sighed. "I don't know if she wants me to tell you this, but… well, it's not that hard to see… you know, Matty's family doesn't have a lot of money. We talked and… she can't really afford any super-duper gifts…"

Alexa, still with that look of thinking, opened the brown paper package before her carefully. It was oddly shaped, long. Not something she was used to seeing a gift shaped like. She opened it to find a simple, wooden baseball bat with a tag on it.

_Next time a guy needs to hit on you harder… have him try a baseball bat._

She laughed. 'Super-duper gifts?' In her opinion, this was one of the best gifts Matty could give.

Who didn't want the gift of laughter?

x-----x

"_I'm worse at what_

_I do best_

_And for this gift I feel blessed,"_

_-Nirvana_

Levi waved Tadd down from where he sat, finishing his breakfast with a very grumpy look on his face. "Hey, yo, Trav-ass!" he called, then came skidding to a halt next to him, Ian in tow.

The smaller of the two boys, still in a mildly depressed mood, sat down ghostlike at the table. Tadd looked up, hissing angrily at Levi. "What do _you _want?"

"Woah, woah, woah," the taller boy backed away two steps, holding up his hands in mock defeat. "I'm hurt. Where's your Christmas spirit, eh, Scrooge?" He pulled Tadd's lonely gift out from under his arm, handing it over to the brown-haired boy.

Tadd's expression, meanwhile, grew angrier with every movement from the taller boy. He grabbed the gift out of Levi's hands, shook his head, and slammed it down onto the table just as he stood up. Whatever it was, Tadd sincerely hoped it would break. He moved to leave, but found something blocking his way.

Levi had a few inches on him. That was all, but it was made more by the fact that Levi stood comparatively straight, whilst Tadd was a perpetual sloucher. Tadd looked about five seconds away from literally growling at the gray-eyed boy.

"Where are you going?" The other asked, raising one eyebrow.

Then Tadd actually _did_ growl, pushing Levi to the side and moving forward, while Ian sat oblivious to the whole thing, poking around breakfast with his fork.

Levi gave way. He could have easily stood solid before Tadd; the other wizard didn't exert much energy to move him. Instead, Levi reached out and grabbed Tadd's wrist to stop him. His eyebrows knitted together. "Hey… Tadd, just tell us," he said. Using the name Tadd preferred. Now there was something you didn't see every day.

He let go. Tadd just continued fuming and walking away.

The gift was from Tadd's dad.

As Tadd was storming out, he ran right into Matty.

She rolled her eyes at Levi. "You two at it _again?_"

He sat down without a word.

She sat across from them, expecting some form of entertainment from the ever-random Ian. Instead, he was silent.

She raised one eyebrow. "Well this has to be the most depressing Christmas _ever._"

x-----x

"_I imagine I will see you there._

_Can't you hear the laughter in the air?"_

_- Mates of State_

"This is fucking _depressing._" Levi stood up abruptly in the common room. Most people were inside because of snow. He was sitting around the common room fire with Tadd, Ian, Matty, Task, Alexa, and Payton. And he was right. It was Christmas, no one was laughing, no one was playing. Everyone was moping around the fire. The few who didn't want to catch their awful mood had disappeared to other parts of the school. Tadd and Levi hadn't spoken since this morning in the Great Hall.

Now, in the afternoon, he got an idea while looking outside at the snow. That's right. Something that would cheer everyone up.

He grabbed Ian and Tadd's wrists, lucky that the two boys were sitting so close, and made to drag them up and out of the common room. "Come on, we're going outside."

Tadd looked up angrily, Ian shaking his head to make sure he was seeing right.

"Wha-? No! Leeeeeeviiiii, it's coooooold, I'll freeeeeze to death!"

By now the girls were standing, too.

Matty had already turned around, ready to go up the stairs to her dorm. "Then get warm clothes on, smart stuff."

Ian and Tadd both glared at her, but apparently everyone decided it would be better to get dressed and find out what all of this was about than to face the wrath of Levi. He was a happy guy, but he liked getting his way a little _too _much. Also, not that they wanted to admit it, but the depressing atmosphere wasn't exactly enjoyable for any of them.

A few minutes later, Levi was dragging them all outside, tired of waiting impatiently for them to just get a move on. Ian looked shocked. "LEVI, you're not wearing ANYTHING. It's FREEEEEZING out there!"

Levi scowled at the skinny, tiny boy's multiple layers. "I've got more muscle than you," he stated truthfully. Ian was an itty bitty stick, not only in his thickness, but in height. Task was the only girl shorter than him, and that was only by a few inches. He was a toy poodle to Levi's Labrador.

The group trudged outside into the snow. Once they were farther out into the grounds, a trail of snowy footprints leading back to the school, Levi stepped a few feet in front of them, turning. He clapped his hands together, a wide grin breaking over his face. "I declare… a snow war!"

Everyone else blinked in surprise, but Ian was the first to match Levi's grin. Apparently this _had _been a good idea. The small boy began to jump up and down! "Yeah, yeah! We haven't had a good snowball fight yet this year!"

Levi's grin was genuine. "Okay everybody, line up in two lines. Trav-ass and I are team captains. I pick first. Ian's mine." Levi turned to Tadd. "Your pick, Australia."

If looks could kill, Levi would have been in Hell by now. Tadd frowned, and pointed slowly at Task. "I want her. And since you got the other boy, I get a extra girl." Levi shrugged, and called out for Matty. Payton and Alexis went to Tadd.

Levi's voice rang out again, dictating everyone. "Okay, everybody has..." He looked down to his watch. "Fifteen minutes to build a fort, starting now!" And with that, he fell to the snow and began to sculpt their 'fort'. Ian, grinning ear-to-ear, began to help, and was soon joined in by Matty.

Fifteen minutes later, and Levi's 'team' had their fortress of snow up. Ian dared a peek over, at the other team, only to be suddenly assaulted by snowballs.

His ear-to-ear grin didn't leave his face, however. "CAPTAIN!" he shouted, "THEY'RE ATTACKING US FROM ALL SIDES."

Levi knitted his eyebrows together, stroking an imaginary goatee. "FULL-ON FRONTAL ASSAULT!"

As Levi, Ian, and Matty loaded their arms with snowballs and began a rapid fire at Tadd's 'team,' they were doing the same. Task got about three in the face before she yelped and ducked back down behind their fort. Somehow Alexis managed to sneak up behind Ian and shovel two snowballs down the back of his coat, so that he was now jumping around yelping at the sudden cold of his back.

Matty rushed out and tackled Alexa, and the two girls ended up wrestling in the snow, shoveling it into each other's faces.

Levi had already landed two snowballs directly in Tadd's face, as well as at least five others to various parts of the boy's body. In Tadd's defense, he'd gotten a few good shots of his own at Levi, as well as various other members of the other boy's team. Not that it was hard, mind you, with Ian jumping around like… well, something that jumped around a lot.

This went on for about another half hour, the students slowly starting to feel the winter chill, but not really caring.

So where was Payton when all of this action was going on? Well, she'd managed to sneak around them all back to Levi's team's fort. And you know what that meant? She grinned ear to ear, leaping up onto their front wall. "I've taken the base! I've taken the base!"

The snowball fight stopped. They looked from one face, to another. Then Tadd and Levi's eyes locked, and Tadd gave him a wicked grin. Payton, Alexa, and Task all ran over to him, the four of them now jumping and shouting. "WE WON! WE WON!"

Ian turned to his friend with mock gravity on his face. "We've been sorely beaten, sir. We were outnumbered."


End file.
